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Exploring 14 of Mexico’s best ancient ruins

Ruins of Palenque, Maya city in Chiapas, Mexico

Mexico’s ancient civilizations were the most sophisticated and formidable in North and Central America. These often highly organized societies didn’t just build towering pyramids and sculpt beautiful temples; they could also read the heavens, do complicated mathematics and invent writing systems.

Exploring their sites is an unmissable Mexico travel experience. Read on for tips on which ruins to visit in Mexico, when is the best time to visit and what to look out for.

The ancient pyramids of Palenque were once painted bright red © Fer Gregory / Shutterstock

1. Palenque

Ancient Palenque stands at the precise point where the first hills rise out of the Gulf coast plain, and the dense jungle covering these hills forms an evocative backdrop to Palenque’s exquisite Maya architecture. Hundreds of ruined buildings are spread over 15 sq km, but only a fairly compact central area has been excavated. Everything you see here was built without metal tools, pack animals or the wheel. As you explore the ruins, try to picture the gray stone edifices as they would have been at the peak of Palenque’s power: painted blood red with elaborate blue and yellow stucco details. The forest around these temples is still home to howler monkeys, toucans and ocelots.

Palenque sees more than 1000 visitors on an average day, and visitor numbers spike in the summer vacation season. Opening time is a good time to visit, when it’s cooler and not too crowded, and morning mist may still be wrapping the temples in a picturesque haze. The ruins are located in Parque Nacional Palenque, which has a M$35 entrance fee.

A hot-air balloon floats near the Pyramid of the Sun, as seen from the Pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacán, Mexico
The impressive ruins of Teotihuacán are just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City © nikidel / Shutterstock

2. Teotihuacán

This complex of awesome pyramids is set amid what was once Mesoamerica’s greatest city. The sprawling Teotihuacán site is comparable to the ruins of the Yucatán and Chiapas for significance, and anyone lucky enough to come here will be inspired by the astonishing technological might of the Teotihuacán civilization. Set 50km northeast of Mexico City, in a mountain-ringed offshoot of the Valle de México, Teotihuacán is known for its two massive pyramids, Pirámide del Sol (Pyramid of the Sun) and Pirámide de la Luna (Pyramid of the Moon), which dominate the remains of the metropolis. 

Pirámide del Sol is the world’s third-largest pyramid – surpassed in size only by Egypt’s Cheops (which is also a tomb, unlike the temples here) and the pyramid of…

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